PKD Life - Fall 2021 - 23

research and investigating
the use of nanoparticles
called " micelles " for cardiovascular
disease, she saw that
these particles at certain concentrations
easily entered
the kidneys. " I was excited
by that, " she says. The key,
however, was to fi gure out
a way to get them to stay in
the kidney long enough to
deliver their payload before
being washed out of the body
through the urine.
The answer, she discovto
major challenges in
biomedical and behavioral
research.
FOCUS ON THE
KIDNEYS
Chung has chosen quite the
challenge: Use the more
than $2.4 million that came
with the grant to prove that a
teeny particle about 10,000
times smaller than a human
hair can provide an eff ective
treatment for autosomal
dominant polycystic kidney
disease (ADPKD).
The solution she's pursuing
is nanoparticles-microscopic
synthetic particles
too miniscule to be seen
by the human eye. Yet they
surround us. They're used
in sunscreens and makeup;
ferry cancer drugs to their
target; break through the
blood/brain barrier to deliver
drugs for neurodegenerative
diseases; improve cancer
detection; and, most recently,
transport the messenger
RNA, or mRNA, that is
the foundation of the new
COVID-19 vaccines into cells
for antibody production.
Where they haven't been
used much, however, is in
kidney disease.
That's where Chung comes
in. About fi ve years ago, while
fi nishing her postdoctoral
ered, was to decorate them
with special peptides, which
allowed them to bind and
dispense the drug into kidney
cells.
Suddenly, Chung was in
the kidney disease business.
But she found little in the
literature on kidneys and
nanoparticles. " I thought,
'Why is kidney disease being
ignored?' " She reached out
to the chief of nephrology at
USC and asked if he wanted
to collaborate. It turned out
he did. And his area of specialty
was ADPKD. Now it's
Chung's specialty.
A PROMISING PATH
With the NIH grant, Chung
is working to develop an oral
nanoparticle that survives
the acidic environment of
the digestive system before
heading to the kidney, or a
patch that can deliver the
particles and their drug
packages through the skin.
Currently, nanoparticles
have to be injected (as with
the COVID-19 vaccine) or
infused. And that, she says,
doesn't work for people with
a chronic disease like ADPKD.
She's focusing on therapies
that are currently being
tested or were previously
tested in the disease but that
were too toxic for human
use or simply not eff ective.
Both results, she says, were
likely because the therapies
were absorbed by organs
other than the kidneys. In
contrast, her nanoparticles
are designed to head to
the kidney.
Chung's work to date has
been in animal models, but
she has established collaborations
with clinicians and cell
biologists and hopes to begin
human trials within the next
10 years.
Her excitement about
the research is palpable.
But she recognizes that this
approach-and one pioneered
by a biomedical engineer
rather than a biological
researcher-may seem foreign
in the PKD world. So it's
her job, she says, to educate
patients, families, funders,
and advocacy groups about
the potential.
" I want them to feel my
excitement and understand
the promise of nanomedicine
in the kidney, " she says.
" Nanoparticles have been
around for years, just not
for ADPKD. When designed
correctly, nanoparticles have
the potential to help kidney
patients. "
*
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PKD RESEARCH, VISIT PKDCURE.ORG/RESEARCH
23
http://www.PKDCURE.ORG/RESEARCH
PKD Life - Fall 2021

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